Telstra International faces competition from US giant Verizon

Lucy Battersby

FILE - AUGUST 21, 2012: Telstra announced today that 651 workers across call centres in Australia will be sacked, with some of the roles getting off-shored to the Philippines. SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - SEPTEMBER 19: A Telstra sign is seen outside their headquarters in Clarence Street on September 19, 2008 in Sydney, Australia. Telstra has announced that it is cutting 800 jobs as new systems have been introduced requiring fewer staff in the areas of consumer and channel, business, and Telstra BigPond divisions supporting employees that face customers. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images) Photo: Getty Images

America's largest telco, Verizon, is making a stronger push for corporate customers in the Asia-Pacific region in a move that will see it competing head-to-head with Telstra International.

Verizon has "significant plans" for its secure internet and cloud computing products around the region following a company restructure earlier this year.

While it is not targeting Australia specifically, Verizon wants more business here as part of a global marketing drive. The maturity and growth of Australia's services sector makes Australian companies a target, Verizon Enterprise Solutions chief marketing officer John Harrobin said on Wednesday.

"We believe that we are positioned to be one of the handful of players worldwide that can serve the mission critical needs of enterprise customers," he said at an annual Asia-Pacific media forum. A large contingent of Australian journalists was invited to the forum for the first time.

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The move into the region puts Verizon in direct competition with Telstra, which wants its international arm to sell more global data and telecommunications services to companies with offices around Asia.

Telstra International owns an undersea cable network around the Asia-Pacific region and Hong Kong mobile company CSL New World Mobility Group.

Telstra chief executive David Thodey recently cited expansion into Asia and more multinational corporate clients as a key strategic priority for Telstra in 2013. But he admitted Telstra was not going after the largest companies because it was still too small.

Harrobin noted that Telstra International still lacked infrastructure in key growth areas.

"Telstra has done a remarkable job with respect to building a company within Australia and [has] very laudable plans to deploy globally as well.

"But when you look at where the opportunities are and the assets that are required to serve them ... if I were to compare their asset base with other asset bases, I would probably conclude it would be harder for them to expand globally without certain partnerships."

Verizon already provides telecommunications for some Australian government departments and for companies in the financial services, mining and manufacturing industries. It is not targeting only global companies, but would happily provide cloud-computing services to medium-sized companies that have only Australian operations, Harrobin said.

IT services was moving from an on-premise service to a cloud-based service, and this would be a "massive disruption" in the sector, he said.

"It is in this discontinuity for Verizon to reposition itself in the marketplace and capture additional value."

Verizon merged its global wholesale, enterprise and government, and global wireless divisions earlier this year to create Verizon Enterprise Solutions. This arm contributes about a quarter of Verizon's annual revenue, which reached $US110 billion in 2011.

Harrobin claims it has the largest internet protocol [fibre] backbone in the world, most integrated 4G (LTE) network globally and the "most enviable client list on the planet".

3 comments

Telstra and Verizon and Optus are too expensive. I wouldn't go near them with a barge pole. The only organisations that tend to go with them are those who like to pay brand name because it is easier to sell them in their enterprise. Getting the best product for selling internally vs getting the best product (period), which would you rather do?

Commenter

Joe Blog

Location

Guam

Date and time

November 08, 2012, 11:24AM

Yes please bring change, anything but it's current. I cannot stand the way they operate!

Commenter

Anonymous1

Date and time

November 08, 2012, 12:05PM

These companies are spending Billions of dollars to make sure that the data integrity is maintained ( some with ISO certification ). Using a cloud provider which costs 50% less than the major players mentioned might cost you dearly. Cheaper cloud service provider may not have a redundancy plan in place,they may use refurbished hardware and may not have enough resource to set things straight when your services fail.

Consider the fact that your business is worth more than the savings that you'll make when you choose a cheaper provider. This is an investment to your business and not an expense.

Its like insuring your business. Disaster seldom strikes, but when it does you are covered.

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